While walking in and waiting to be seated will be a more than adequate approach for the bulk of most restaurant excursions, it is helpful to learn how to book restaurant reservations for special cases. If you are on a date and want to ensure that you have a table waiting; if you need to be in and out of a dinner on a fairly tight schedule; or if you want to eat at a fine restaurant that only accepts reservations, this skill will be useful. Learning to make restaurant reservations will help you make the most of your dining experience. It can also help you get into fine restaurants that are heavily booked.

Ad

Steps

1

Call as far ahead of time as possible. In many cases, you will be able to make a dinner reservation early in the same day. However, if you are planning the dinner ahead of time, call earlier. Most restaurants will accept reservations a few days in advance, and exclusive fine dining venues will often accept (or even require) reservations weeks or months in advance.

If you make your reservations more than a few days in advance, it is best to call the day of the dinner to quickly confirm your reservation.

Ad

2

Schedule an early or late dinner if availability is limited. A helpful way to get a reservation at a heavily booked restaurant is to avoid the dinner "prime time" - usually around 7:30 pm. Remain open to booking a reservation at 5:00 pm or even 10:00 pm (depending on the restaurant's hours). This will increase your chances of getting a table the same day or earlier in the week than you expected.

3

Be as courteous as possible when booking a reservation. If you are attempting to book a tough reservation, remember that your attitude on the phone will go a long way. Be confident but polite; avoid giving the impression that you feel entitled to a reservation. Remember, however, that even Michelin-stared restaurants are not in the business of turning away customers. If the host replies that the restaurant has no availability, explain your situation and ask politely if there is any way you can be accommodated in the future.

4

Visit the restaurant in person. A further strategy for booking a tough reservation is asking for availability in person rather than over the phone. This shows that you are willing to put a bit of effort into securing a table. A host is also much less likely to be dismissive or unhelpful when dealing with you face-to-face.

5

Call ahead or cancel if you are running late. Once you've secured your reservation, call ahead and apologize if it looks like you'll be up to 20 minutes late. If you are running much later than that, consider canceling and rescheduling your dinner. Remember that reservations are made for a reason - to make sure as many guests as possible are served on each night. If you are late it affects other guests' reservations.

6

Book a reservation online if possible. Some restaurants allow you to book online using websites like OpenTable, Reservation Genie, or through their own proprietary system. Not only do these websites offer the convenience of seeing which time slots are still available for dining, but many of them offer coupons or membership rewards programs through which you can accumulate perks by using the service.

A similar way to accumulate perks like discounts or reservations at exclusive restaurants is through your credit card company. Credit card companies often include restaurant discounts in their rewards programs as a means to attract customers, and some high-profile cards even offer exclusive access to heavily booked restaurants.

If you book your reservation online, you may still want to call ahead and confirm before arriving.

Ad

We could really use your help!

Can you tell us about

HTML?

Yes

No

Can you tell us about

Cookware Hacks?

Yes

No

Can you tell us about

Taxi Cab Travel?

Yes

No

Can you tell us about

removing stains?

Yes

No

Thanks for helping! Please tell us everything you know about

...

Tell us everything you know here. Remember, more detail is better.

Tips

Provide details.

Please be as detailed as possible in your explanation. We will take your detailed information, edit it for clarity and accuracy, and incorporate it into an article that will help thousands of people.Don't say: Eat more fats.Do say: Add fats with some nutritional value to the foods you already eat. Try olive oil, butter, avocado, and mayonnaise.

Tips

Note that many busy casual restaurants don't accept reservations as a rule; this is why many popular spots can be seen with a long line of customers snaking out the door. Be prepare to wait if you want to dine at a restaurant like this.

Warnings

Some restaurants will require a credit card number upon booking your reservation and will charge you a "no show" fee if you do not arrive or cancel in advance.

Share

Featured Articles

Meet a Community Member

Meet Gaurang, a wikiHowian from India who has been editing on wikiHow for over 3 years and is a Featured Author, New Article Booster, and Admin. He has patrolled over 14,500 changes and has made over 10,400 edits to improve articles around the site. He enjoys patrolling recent changes, boosting new articles, and voting in the NFD Guardian. His favorite article he’s worked on here is How to Use Google Drive, since collaboration between him and other community members turned it into a really informative and easy-to-understand guide. His proudest accomplishment on wikiHow has been starting the Hindi wikiHow, which provides access to how-tos in a language spoken by more than 500 million people worldwide. He says writing on wikiHow is a rewarding process, since you get to help millions of people everyday and learn things along the way. He loves how the wikiHow community is a caring, supportive, and dedicated bunch of people. To new editors, he says, “Don't be afraid to make mistakes and ask for help. There are many who are willing to help you out here!”